I actually found myself with 5-6 hours time - enough for a quick render… The first time I have been able to create an image since October 2014!

It certainly wasn’t enough time to do any modelling, so I looked in my unfinished projects folder and found an old tutorial I did in 2007 - you can see here at this blog entry.

The ship is based on a tutorial by Adam Benton, creating a Chris Foss-style spaceship with some basic box-modelling and C4D’s hypernurbs.

I created a new background in Photoshop - I wanted colour in the traditional Chris Foss style. The ship textures were mostly mine; the hull texture is from my “riveted hull textures” you can find in my Deviantart resources.

Hypernurbs generally create some issues when texturing, though you can reduce these by clicking on the hybernurbs object and selecting ‘Current State To object’. This creates a new object with the shape of the hypernurbs object, but which behaves like a normal, editable object. I would normally clean up the mesh at this point, but didn’t have time - perhaps for a V2 at some point.

Anyway, some quick texturing, render and away.

Post-render touch-ups were in Photoshop.

The mesh defiantly could have done with a clean-up - but I think the image captures the spirit of Chris Foss!

More clearing and cleaning out space on my hard drive… Here two the Photoshop templates I use for creating spaceship hull textures (that can be tiled) for my C4D materials. I have cleaned them up a little for public consumption. This means the layers are grouped and coloured to make sense of the template, and the detail layers are gone, because they were a bit crap, really!

The new spaceship texture templates and can be found in my DeviantArt Resources Gallery here:

Size: 1024 x 1024 pxFor those of you working in 3D apps, I have included the Normal and Specular layers.

So, what you get are the following grouped layers:Dirt - choice of 7 dirt layersScratches - choice of 6 scratchesGrunge - 2 grunge layersHull Lines - 3 layers that include the lines that create the hull panels. This includes one rasterised layer and the original, unaltered lines so that you can modify it as necessaryRust Texture Overlays - 2 rust overlays for creating the classic ‘battered freighter’ look Panels - 4 layers containing various shapes to create paneling effectsBase Hull Textures - 3 choices of base hull texture/colourNormal & Specular Layers - 1 each Normal and Specular layer for those creating materials in 3d applications

Besides these groups and layers, I have included a few ‘demo’ samples to show what can be done with the template.

Use : other than claiming that these textures are your work, knock yourself out with them - I hope you find the textures useful and It would be great to see how you use them in your art.

It seems ages since I have worked on one of my own projects - and anything scifi or 3d. All of the projects I’m involved in at the moment a bit on the dull side - but at least they pay! I’m clearing lots of stuff from my hard drive as one of the projects I’m working on involves creating lots of content including video. Thankfully, I’m able to push stuff out to cloud storage (thanks, Microsoft for 100GB of free OneDrive!)

Sifting through I found a coloured version of my Warning Signs template - no idea what I did it for and have no recollection of ever using it… It looked pretty cool though, so I spent an hour or two applying the styles to the other Warning Sign templates. I suspect these will be more popular than the original, as these colours blend into more environments than my originals, which have a very strong identity of their own.

The new colourful templates and the original can be found in my DeviantArt Resources Gallery here:

Groups & LayersI have updated all of the layers and colour-coded them. To minimise the file sizes, wherever possible I have removed most of the rasterised layers and left the original PS Shape layer - this also allows you to easily change the colours. However, occasionally you will find the original shape layer missing - this is where I forgot to duplicate the Shape layer before rasterising or merging the layer.

A word about fontsI have adjusted these templates so that the text layers use Arial Black, as both Windows and Mac machines should have this font as standard. The signs look more effective with any of the following fonts available from dafont www.dafont.com/fr/theme.php?ca…FontsCapture_itCoalitionDefusedJacinto SansBitsumishiDodgerSF Automaton

The PS Brushes used to create the Dirt and Scratches layers include, but are not limited to:Scratches by Katrina RempelGrunge_Brushed_by_misstaraleexoGrunge Notion by BlazterGrungeBrushes3 by KeReN-R

For the Biohazard sign I used Hazard Brushes 1 by AscendedArts

UsePersonal UseHave a ball - do whatever you want with it!

Commercial UseNo restrictions beyond checking those of the font you use.

Whatever you do with the template, I would love to see it - I had loads of fun making images with it and I hope you do to!

I was interviewed recently by Guillaume from Your Cavern, a really great Digital Art blog. If you don’t already know it, Your Cavern is a really great site for discovering digital artists of all genres and styles - well worth a visit!

The origins of this image… A month or so ago, I re-watched the original Cowboy Bebop TV series, and I was reminded how much I liked the concept used for hyperspace travel - particularly the design of the hyperspace gates. The design remind me of an old fashioned monocle… That got me thinking about doing an image that involved a hyperspace gate and the gate as some sort of lens (as in focusing energy).

Anyway, fast forward a few weeks and I watched Blade Runner for the zillionth time…Roy Batty’s speech, uttered just before he dies, contains the lines “I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate” - and I knew the gate that I had to show in my image.

As I set out modelling the gate, I still had the concept of a lens in my mind… When I was a young teen, my parents bought me a Russian Zenit E SLR one Christmas. The funny little lens that that camera came with is essentially the model for my gate design. In terms of modelling, it is very, very simple - so simple in fact, that I felt compelled to dress it up a little with the “field generator” thingies sticking out the front!

The worm hole effect in the centre of the hyperspace gate went through a lot of iterations before I got to something that didn’t look too cartoony, but still gave the type of effect I was looking for. The texture for the worm hole is on a funnel-shaped mesh to give a feeling of depth appropriate to a vortex effect producing a tunnel.

Now. To get very arty on you: The composition of the image is very deliberate and a homage to the British scifi illustrator Tony Roberts. If you are a fan of 70’s scifi book covers or the Terran Trade Authority books, then you know Tony’s work. In his images set in space, Tony played visual games with the arrangement of the planets (and sometimes spherical spaceships) - I’m (trying to) do the same here; I set out principle spherical shapes of the main planet, the principle body of the gate, the “mouth” of the gate and the multiple shadows created by it. Then, there are the counterpoint spheres of the two moons and the centre of the wormhole(!!!)

That’s about it.

Rendered in one take in C4D, post production in Photoshop with Nik Filters.

The main planet was (as ever) created using Michael Welters ‘Atmosphere’ plug in. This is the first outing for my own (16k px) “Star Trek planet” textures - an attempt to create a planet similar to those from ST-TOS and the first few seasons of ST-TNG. I’m not sure I succeeded - but the planet does look OK. The star ship is actually an unfinished ship from another image I’m working on, so you’ll see that again at some point!

As with most of my recent work, I’m still in “realistic” mode - so there is a single point of (distant) light to simulate the system’s star.

In terms of textures, the main planet textures are mine, the moon textures are (I think) from Marlin Studios, as are the principle textures of the hyperspace gate. The gate also uses a few textures by Philip K. The starship textures are mine, not that you can see them! The star field is one the 3 that I recently added to my DevianArt Resources gallery for people to download.

I wanted an irregular riveted hull look for an image and most of the existing textures I had were rubbish - including the Total Textures scifi pack (which I have paid for twice now, and many of the textures still don’t have Normal, Specular or (where necessary) Luminance maps - more fool me!)

However, I did like the pattern of one of the textures in the Total Textures scifi, so using that as inspiration, I created this set of textures. I used a number of base source metal textures, dirt maps and so on, to get a variety of different hull finishes. I have added a choice of bump maps and Normal maps (strength, level of detail) as well as a Specular map

Found some more time for a quickie render… This time, I chose as my inspiration this image from Chris Foss. My intention wasn’t to reproduce the image, but to try and catch the spirit of the image…

As I’m still pretty busy with other work at the moment I saved time by using a free model as the basis of the floating city (by Avalon3d and available here). I modified this by building cylindrical towers for top and bottom, removing a lot of detail from the edges, adding a comms system and, finally, greebling the crap out of the upper hull plates (using the Greebler plugin).

Foss’s original image has several delta-winged ships of varying design which I melded into a single ship as I wanted a simpler overall image.

The main hull texture for the floating city is from the Dosch Scifi textures collection. All other textures on the floating city, including the windows, are mine. The main hull texture for the delta-winged ship is from the Marlin Studios scifi collection. The decals/markings and windows are, again, mine.

As ever, the image was modelled and rendered in Cinema 4D with Photoshop post-work.

I don’t have much spare time at the moment, so in what time I do have I’ve been picking up partially completed projects and trying to finish them off...

A project that I started in 2011 (and which was supposed to be a quick and simple modelling exercise) was to realise the original space pod design from Arthur C Clarke’s short stories of the 1950’s and 60’s. Most people know ACC’s space pod concept as realised in 2001: A Space Odyssey, however the design as described in his short stories such as ‘Who’s There?’ and ‘Summertime on Icarus’ is much more of a stubby cylinder.

I first came across Arthur’s short scifi stories when some were included in a (British) comic I read (and which included some fantastic accompanying illustrations - I would love to know who did them). Later as a young teen, I found two collections of ACC’s short stories in the school book shop. The books included his “The Other Side of the Sky” and “Venture to the Moon” series of stories. ACC imagined that much of the space station building that would occur in the 1970’s (!!!) onwards would essentially require a tiny spaceship with arms - for manoeuvrability and also because spacesuit gloves have many issues for astronauts.

This was the future I expected to grow up in....

Sadly, ACC entirely missed the fact that transistors would quickly replace vacuum tubes and make the need for space stations redundant - they would be replaced by purpose specific satellites. The geostationary orbit that ACC described for space stations and satellites in a 1945 technical paper is still sometimes called the Clarke Orbit.

This image was modelled and rendered entirely in Cinema 4D, the Earth was created (as ever) with using Michael Welters ‘Atmosphere’ plug-in. There was a tiny bit of Photoshop post-production.

In terms of style I have tried to bridge ACC’s description with the production style of 2001: A Space Odyssey, including the lack of background stars. The girder is red, of course, because the bare girders of the under-construction space station we see in 2001 are red.

The pod’s combined camera and lights module, fitted to the top of the “helmet” is a little in-joke: Without the strong sunlight and shadows it looks just like Wall-E

Having see ‘Moon’ finally, as well as reading quite a few articles on asteroid mining, the concept of the ‘space freighter’ has been playing on my mond and this image is the result!

So here we go - totally produced in Cinema 4D; the Earth was created using Michael Welters ‘Atmosphere’ plug in. Freighter was also modelled and textures in Cinema 4D. For a while I strongly played with following the scifi trope of the battered, weathered freighter look. Thankfully, common sense prevailed! However, at least one of the textures I created for that has made it to my DeviantArt Resources - just follow the link, below.

The ship hull texture is my own (the Colour, Specular and Normal layers are available from my DeviantArt page) as are the stripes and star decals. Other textures are by Total Textures and Marlin Studios.

If you check out my gallery here or on DeviantArt regularly, you know that I have been having a little fun with some faux 1930’s-style pulp sci-fi magazine covers. Having done quite a few of these, I realized I had ended-up with quite a set of resources in Photoshop - ideal for a template.

So, I’ve done just that - pulled the resources together to create my Do-It-Yourself 1930’s Pulp Scifi Magazine Cover Creator. You can get it over in my DeviantArt Resources Gallery

So, here’s another faux pulp scifi magazine cover… I’m accidentally creating a Photoshop template for creating these, which I think I’ll post soon over on my DeviantArt page. I’ll let you know when I do. These are just so much fun do to.

Yes I know, it’s been a while! I have been fighting something of a creative block of late - I’m sure brought on by the realisation that (the dismal) summer is over and that is as good as the weather is going to get this year!

Anyway, I have a new image for you - an idea I have been kicking around for a while. It’s called ‘Preparing For Take Off’ - yes I know, very original - the background is an image I took on a flight from Paris to Ajaccio.

I have added this book cover design as a faux covers to the Spacecraft gallery - so please take a look.

I have been working on a few new book cover designs over the last month or so - both featuring spacecraft that I designed some time ago.

The first features my freighter; I built this model just over a year ago, the design is inspired by various craft from Gerry Anderson series - including Thunderbird 2, the moon shuttle (and its mother craft) from UFO and the superb Eagle from Space 1999. The Sikorsky Sky Crane was also an influence. The distinctive blue-and-white striped pain job is a direct steal from Chris Foss’s excellent cover from ‘The Early Asimov, Vol 1’.

The second image features the flyer that previously made a guest appearance in my September 2011 free wallpaper ‘preparing For Take Off’. In this new image you can see it’s slightly bizarre design much more clearly... The design of the flyer comes from two main sources; firstly, the space pod from series 3 of the 1960’s TV show ‘Lost In Space’ and secondly this piece of concept art for Homeworld.

I have added both of these book cover designs as faux covers to the Spacecraft gallery - so please take a look.

For my September wallpaper and calendar collection I wanted to do a big planet with a really gnarly texture - I ended up doing three! Imaginatively, the illustration is called ‘Trinity’ and is 100% Photoshop.

The planet textures came from all sorts of places, and each of the planets comprises multiple textures in layers - textures include slate, granite, moss covered rocks and so on.

As usual, you will find English and French calendar versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes up to 3200x2000 (2560x1440 for the calendars). The standard iPad/tablet sized wallpaper looks great on my phone. I have also added an iPad retina hi-res version.

As usual, you will find English and French calendar versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes up to 3200x2000 (2560x1440 for the calendars). I have also added an iPad retina hi-res version. The standard iPad/tablet sized wallpaper looks great on my phone.

I have been in a Chris Foss mood over the past few days and this image is the result!

So here we go - totally produced in Cinema 4D; the large planet was created using Michael Welters ‘Atmosphere’ plug in. Not that you can really tell, but I used my own textures with Atmosphere for the Earth-like planet. The small moons were produced with PXG Planet, with NASA textures from the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.

The ship hull texture is my own (the specular layer is available from my DeviantArt page) as are the stripes and star decals. Other textures are by Total Textures and Marlin Studios.

I have always liked producing images of alien terrains; I started (in what now feels like a million years ago) with Bryce, then Cararra. However, as each successive build of Carrara becomes ever more unreliable on the Mac I have attempted to do more terrain work within Cinema 4D.

I don't have V13, which has additional terrain features, but it's still possible to produce some passable terrains for 'tight' scenes. My main problem has been the terrain materials having too much specular reflection, which I just haven't been able to kill.

Anyway, overall I think this came out pretty well; it depicts a scene where two astronauts discover an abandoned alien installation. Having recently seen Prometheus, this image is very influenced by the look and feel of Ridley Scott’s film. The artifact is intended to suggest both the Engineers (iconic) ship and the domed structures they are buried beneath. I almost made the spacesuits blue, too, but settled for blue detailing - white gives a much more satisfying glow in post production.

Hey,I have just uploaded my July wallpaper - it’s called ‘New World Reconnoitre’

For my July wallpapers I wanted to produce an image that was totally 3d and also featured a realistically lit spaceship - I haven’t been happy with my space scene lighting at all.

So here we go - totally produced in Cinema 4D; the planet was created using Michael Welters ‘Atmosphere’ plug in. I used my own textures with Atmosphere to produce ‘New Terra’ (including a 16k cloud texture).

As usual, you will find English and French calendar versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes up to 3200x2000 (2560x1440 for the calendars). I have also added an iPad retina hi-res version. The standard iPad/tablet sized wallpaper looks great on my phone.

For my June wallpaper and calendar collection I thought I would create a space scene that celebrated Ridley Scott’s new Sci-Fi film ‘Prometheus’ which opened in Paris yesterday. In his original ‘Alien’ as well as ‘Prometheus’, the planet visited by humans is a moon around a ringed gas giant.No 3d work in this months image - everything was created in Photoshop. The planet textures came from all sorts of places; for instance, the moon in the foreground is created from a montage of satellite pictures of Moroccan desert. Because of the angle, I had dreadful problems with the gas giant rings - it was very difficult to get the perspective right and to ensure they were recognisable as rings. I’m still not convinced they look right.

As usual, you will find English and French calendar versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes up to 2560x1440. The standard iPad/tablet sized wallpaper looks great on my phone. I have also added an iPad retina hi-res version.

So, back from sunny, beautiful Corsica to beautiful but incredibly wet Paris - it really is horrible!

Corsica is just a brilliant island; rugged inland with the most incredible mountains and a coast of lovely sandy coves. Whenever possible, my wife and I spend our May holiday there; early May is perfect as the island is still quiet. We returned to the area around Olmeto and Propriano for this visit. As ever, we took thousands of photos - and, I’m not sure why, but something triggered memories from my youth... As a teenager I was a big fan of Roger Dean and the granite rock textures as well as the shapes of the rocks themselves reminded my strongly of his work.

...and this one also reminds of the derelict from the film ‘Alien’!!

Anyway, you can judge for yourselves! I have added a selection of pictures and texture resources to my portfolio over at DeviantArt.

Hey all,the #Inner Space Group over at Deviantart is holding a competition for illustration with the theme of “Sol” and I have used my entry for that competition as this months wallpaper. The image was inspired by an Arthur C Clarke short story called 'Summertime on Icarus' in which a research spaceship gets to within seventeen million miles of the Sun, shielded by the asteroid Icarus.

The Sun and starfield were created in Photoshop, whilst the planetoid and spaceship were created in Cinema 4D. The spaceship is deliberately in the style of the great Peter Elson.

As usual, you will find English and French calendar versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes too. The standard iPad/tablet sized wallpaper looks great on my phone. I have also added a ‘new iPad’ retina hi-res version for all of you new iPad users.

Hey all,Spring is here, it’s the end of March and time for a new wallpaper to brighten up your desktop! This month, my image is a Photoshop creation called ’Light Wave’. Following my wife’s request for ‘warmer’ images, I’m still trying to weave as much green in to my images to reflect the arrival of warmer weather.

As usual, you will find English and French calendar versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes too. The standard iPad/tablet sized wallpaper looks great on my phone. I have also added a ‘new iPad’ retina hi-res version for all of you new iPad users.

Hey all,As you know from my ‘walk-through’ posts, I have been working on a couple of covers for Daric Books. The books central character - the eponymous Drachir - is a loveable rogue who wanders the universe in his ship, The Nevis. Daric Books have just released the second novel in the Drachir series. You can see the cover and buy the book at the Daric Online Bookstore

As with the first Drachir novel, to celebrate the release of the book I have created a wallpaper pack featuring Drachir’s ship in all its glory

I have just uploaded the March wallpaper and calendars - yes, it’s already the end of February! This month it’s a composite Cinema 4D render, with Photoshop backdrop. My wife complained to me bitterly that the previous few images were too cold and that she wanted colours that would remind her of Spring. So, here we go! An interstellar probe sent from Earth approaching a planet deep in the heart of a hydrogen-rich nebula - hence the green! I have named it ‘Curiosity on the way to discovery’, in honour of the Mars mission.

As usual, you will find English and French versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes too. The iPad/tablet size wallpaper works great on my HTC phone.

I have been doing some more work on book cover design, the result being very Peter Elson-like. I have called it ‘Grand Prix’, as it looks very much like a race to me - albeit a futuristic low-orbital one!

The cover currently doesn’t have a home, so if you have a project it would for, do let me know.

And to prove that my creativity hasn’t completely deserted me, i have made another theme for the excellent Netnewswire RSS Reader. Made with CSSEdit and Textmate, ‘Dashboard’ uses Lucida and Helvetica to blend in with your Mac desktop. As with my previous styles, it is intended to be easy on the eye and also provide ad-blocking.

You can download the Dashboard theme in the Downloads & Links section.

Well, that’s January 2012 gone! I have to say, I found January tough-going... Just sapped my motivation and creativity completely! However, I have just uploaded the February calendars - I have created the image, “In a galaxy far away”... You will find English and French versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes as well as one for iPads/tablets (looks great on my HTC smartphone!)

Absolutely the final freebie of 2011, I have opted for a the cold-toned image, “Red Dwarf”...

As usual, you will find English and French calendar versions, as well as a plain wallpaper pack that also includes an iPads/tablets size (works for most smartphones too). All the packs contain a choice of 3 widescreen monitor sizes.

I can’t believe how quickly this year has flown by! December already! OMG! I have just uploaded the December calendars - thinking of traditionalChristmas colours, I have opted for a green-themed image, “Emerald”... You will find English and French versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes as well as one for iPads/tablets

I have just uploaded the November wallpaper and calendars (I can’t believe how quickly time goes by!)... This month it’s a composite Cinema 4D render, with Photoshop backdrop. A classic SF image; spacecraft approaching a planet that is partly in darkness. I have named it ‘Binary’, as I have binary suns as well as two ships. As usual, you will find English and French versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes too. The iPad wallpaper looks great in Photoshop - I have it looks as good on your iPad/tablet device.

Hey all,I have just uploaded the October wallpapers and calendars... You will find English and French versions of the calendars, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes up to 2560*1440. Having left it out from the September pack, the iPad (or other tablet) portrait wallpaper makes a welcome return to the plain wallpaper pack .

In my continued search for the perferect RSS style sheet, i have made two more themes for the excellent Netnewswire RSS Reader. Made with CSSEdit and Textmate, Finder Blue uses Gill Sans to display text, whilst Papyrus uses Century Gothic. As with my previous styles, both are intended to be easy on the eye and also provide ad-blocking.

Little bit late with these; the render took bl**dy ages!! I have just uploaded the September wallpaper and calendars... This month it’s a Cinema 4D render, with Photoshop post work. A classic SF scene, the space hanger!! As usual, you will find English and French versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes too. No iPad version this time, though, as I just couldn’t get the image to work on that size/ratio screen.

Hey all,I have just uploaded the August wallpapers and calendars... You will find English and French versions of the calendars, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes up to 2560*1440. The plain wallpaper pack also includes an iPad (or other tablet) portrait wallpaper.

Another treat for Mac users... i have made some more themes for the excellent Netnewswire RSS Reader. Made with CSSEdit and Textmate, they are clean styles that use Helvetica and Helvetica neue as well as using ad-blocking. You can download the themes in the Downloads & Links section.

Doesn’t time fly when you’re busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger? I have just uploaded the July calendars... You will find English and French versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes too. Following further feedback I have added a 2560*1440 size for all those that are buying the 27” iMac!! (like me!)

I have uploaded the June calendars... You will find English and French versions, the packs for each language contain a choice of widescreen sizes too. Following your feedback I have also uploaded a plain wallpaper pack - that zip contains an iPad wallpaper size as well.

I have been working my way through the Lynda Cinema 4D course... I prefer the video format versus book, but I’m not a great fan of Larry Mitchell’s style - and with this sort of thing, the presenters style is ‘make or brake’, really...

Screen shot is an exercise modelling a simple spoon; you are introduced to HyperNURBs, Soft Selection, etc...

Daz has released Carrara 7.0... They’re claiming dramatic speed improvements along with a host of new features including: Export capabilities via COLLADA Export, Multi-pass Rendering, as well as a new 3D Paint tool that enables textures to be selected, edited and painted directly onto an object. Additionally, the Assembly Room Vertex Modelling puts the Vertex Modelling capabilities that were previously only available in the Modelling room in the Assembly room too.

Maxon has released C4D R11 which includes a non-linear animation system, new global illumination render engine and dramatically improved render speed. As well as support for the COLLADA file format and CineMan, lots of improvements were made to BodyPaint Release 4

I discovered another tutorial by Adam Benton over at ImagineFX. This time, the tutorial sets out to produce an image in the style of Chris Moore. The tutorial doesn’t go into the modelling of the the tower in detail - but it was enough to set me off!

I’m still working my way through the Anson Call book... Having a lot of fun so far and love C4D - easily one of the best pieces of software I have ever used. The latest tutorial - modelling the lamp, above - was really very nice, well laid-out and very satisfying to complete.

My brother bought me the Anson Call book Cinema 4D R10 Handbook for my birthday, back in July. I have only now found the time to sit down and dig into it... Plus points are shorter exercises - I can complete them in an evening! Also, the text is easier to read than the Arndt von Koenigsmarck book. Negatives - the images are all black and white, which makes some of them a little difficult to see clearly.

The image above shows a quick test render during the simple Castle tutorial.

Above you can see me part-way through.The book is extremely comprehensive, taking the reader through simple modelling exercises (such as the Mac Pro) to complex modelling exercises (a car). However, even the easy exercises are long, with many, many steps. In fact, it’s impossible to complete an exercise in an evening, and for those of use whose day job is not 3d modelling, it’s nice to finish an exercise in one go and get a sense of achievement. Also, the translation from the original German is very stodgy, making the ebook hard to understand at times and ponderous at best.

I recently discovered some great C4D modelling tutorials at ImagineFX. One in particular by Adam Benton caught my eye - how to model Chris Foss style spaceships!!! As you can imagine, I was in heaven! Above is one of my first efforts - if you’re interested in the tutorial, you can find it “http://www.imaginefx.com/02287754333349729529/retro-spacecraft .html” here

Daz has released Bryce 6, fairly quickly followed by an update. Bryce is now Mac Intel native, supports HDRI and its memory management is better on the Mac - but I think its over. Not an app for me anymore...

In fact, the way Daz develops its software makes me wonder for the future of Carrara... Functionality is driven not by user needs, but to drive Daz’s main business - Poser-compatible figures, props and scenery.

The screen-capture, above, shows my first efforts in Cinema 4D! The exercise is from the included Quickstart guide. I must say that I’m super-impressed with this application; The interface is clean, understandable and very intuitive. Although Cinema 4D is feature-rich, capable of advanced rendering and animation tasks, the interface is simple enough for a beginner to jump in and produce results quickly. In fact, I would consider that to be the Cinema 4D's strongest feature - its ease-of-use. C4D is a very powerful application, yet but there is always more to learn; like PhotoShop, it is a program that provides a wealth of capabilities on the surface, but dig a little deeper and you will find the full-blown, high octane, turbocharged monster just waiting for you to get stuck-in!